Which gay/lesbian person Personally or Historically most positively influenced your life? (80's, years)

[QwertyFarmer]

I was just wondering if people would share examples of how a gay or lesbian person in history or your personal life left the best impression on you or most positively influenced your life. Feel free to provide more than one example.

[jtur88]

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Elton John. I wonder if this thread is inspired by the one about T E Lawrence, who would certainly be on my list. I admire Barney Frank, seemingly a uniquely honest politician. Al three of those would be good role models, but I can't say that in my life they actually are. I hope I understood the OP's questin correctly.


Actually, it is extremely improbable that I would even be aware of whether someone is gay, even people I personally know. But I have had a few very good friends whom I knew to be gay. Sometimes I glance bemusedly at the covers of the tabloids at the supermarket checkout, but I don't know if those are reliable sources.

[Thyra]

I would go with Richard Coeur de Lion. However, after just reading "Seven Pillars", I don't think Lawrence was gay. I think he was a very complicated person with alot of issues, but not gay. I have just started his bio by Jeremy Wilson...1000 pgs.. so it will be awhile before it's finished.. so maybe I'll change my mind by then!!

[jmgg]

I would have to go with (figuratively speaking) Elton John. Love his music and easily one of the most talented composer/musicians in history.He's an icon.

I do admire Ellen DeGeneres in that she handles the situation with a down to earth, matter of fact attitude. Not flashy. She's the funny neighbor next door.

Other than those two, I have several close friends that are lesbians and are a lot of fun. I don't have any male close friends that are gay. Nothing in common.

Barney Frank is a disgrace whether gay, straight, transvestite, catholic, protestant, athiest, white, black, pink, etc. You get the picture.

[j_k_k]

Definitely David Kopay. He played for my alma mater in the Rose Bowl, and made an NFL career out of being an extremely tough special teamer and utility back despite modest natural talent. He spent all his football years in an intensely homophobic environment, and the only way he could express it to most people was to hit the 'phobes that much harder. After his NFL career, Kopay came out. He was the first to do that, and he paid the price. Ironically, it was never about making a statement for Kopay; it was about wanting to play the game and be himself. Like many of UW's most respected activists (Gordon Hirabayashi and Grethe Cammermeyer come to mind), he didn't plan to become crusader. Life dropped it on him, and he manned up. He paid the price for it, blowing any chance at a coaching career and alienating some of his family.

Some twenty years later, I found myself invited to participate in a writing event related to LGBT issues. Honored, I wrote a review of Kopay's book that still exists online. The more I wrote, the more kinship I felt with him. We were both Huskies, had walked the same collegiate halls. I had never become a professional athlete, but I was a longtime amateur athlete who came back from numerous injuries on about 75c worth of talent and an armload of desire. I wasn't gay, but I was pagan, which in modern America is not so far distant in terms of the crap society throws at you. So I took the time to look Kopay's address up and mailed him a copy of the review. I figured, what the heck, maybe it'll brighten a day for him; it's the least I can do.

I was surprised indeed a couple of weeks later when my phone rang. It was David Kopay, calling to thank me and to tell me I'd really nailed it with the review, and just to get acquainted. He'd felt the connection too. And what a pleasant talk we had, about all sorts of stuff--I think we were on the phone an hour. By then Kopay was a very successful businessman in the LA area, but he still had time to reach back out to a fan and fellow Dawg who supported him. He and the school have also, happily, moved past the awkward era (one I'm sure UW has regretted continuously for most of the intervening period). Kopay was honored as a Husky Legend at a recent football game, a gesture about thirty years overdue for his college career alone, and has decided to share his life success with young Huskies: he has willed $1 million to endow the Q Center, a campus LGBT haven of the kind that would have made his own life easier had it existed in his collegiate day. I don't have $1 million to give, but I decided that if David Kopay supports the Q Center, I should support the Q Center, and expanded my own contributions accordingly.

My life has been influenced by plenty of other gay and lesbian people, but Kopay is the only one who is a public figure, and probably the strongest alongside my best man and best friend George (whom I met well before he came out, in our own college days). I would like to hope I could be as tough, determined, brave, forgiving and generous as David Kopay. Not an easy standard to live up to.

[Six Foot Three]

Since i'm an 80's New Waver it's Boy George of Culture Club having a heck of an influence of 80's New Wave sound on my music interests. Other gay 80's musicians who sound i liked were Gary Numan, Neil Tenant (Pet Shop Boys) and George Michael (Wham).

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by jmgg

Barney Frank . . . You get the picture.

Yup, loud and clear. You're a conservative republican who idolizes Fox News.

[Grandstander]

I'm unsure how a gay person in your personal life, influencing you, qualifies as a topic for the History board. A gay friend of mine introduced me to the woman who is now my ex wife, does that count?

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

I'm unsure how a gay person in your personal life, influencing you, qualifies as a topic for the History board. A gay friend of mine introduced me to the woman who is now my ex wife, does that count?

Maybe its an historical figure who proved inspirational or influential, someone one admires.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Maybe its an historical figure who proved inspirational or influential, someone one admires.

I get the part about historical figures, I was questioning the part about "in your personal life" which was included as an option.